Warwick district has the highest representation of gay, lesbian and bisexual people in Warwickshire, new Census 2021 data has revealed.

This is the first time national figures for sexual orientation have been collected, and the data suggests 1.33 per cent of people in the district identify as gay or lesbian, with a further 1.62 per cent identifying as bisexual.

In Warwick 89.94 per cent of people described themselves as straight or heterosexual.

People who identified as pansexual accounted for 0.23 per cent of people in the area, while 0.09 per cent identified as asexual.

However, as the question in the census was voluntary the numbers could be higher than suggested.

The data shows that 6.81 per cent of people in the district did not provide an answer about their sexual orientation.

Following the publication of the Census data, Warwickshire Pride chair Dan Browne told Nub News it was a big step forward.

"It's fantastic that the census included questions on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time," he said.

"There is now evidence that we exist, which is great for Warwickshire as when Warwickshire Pride started a local councillor told us there are no gay people in Warwickshire.

"Now we can say that Warwickshire does indeed have gay people, and of course bi people, pan people, asexual and queer people, as well as trans people. Our communities are here.

"There is a bigger discussion to have because I personally believe that the statistics are much higher than the census states. This is because many LGBT+ people remain hidden and don't want to disclose their identity because of the levels of hate, prejudice and discrimination that exists.

"However, this is a positive step in the right direction and it will be good to see how many more LGBT+ people there are locally in the next census."

Warwickshire Pride has also announced a number of new pride events for 2023, including a dedicated Kenilworth Pride which will take place in June.